Apparatus for coating pipe ends



Aug. 20, 1935. J. SOYLAND APPARATUS FOR COATING PIPE ENDS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec.

INVENTOR. JOHNSOYLAND.

TTORNEY.

J. SOYLAND APPARATUS FOR COATING PIPE ENDS I Filed Dec. 27., 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR. JOHN SOYLHAW.

A TORNEY.

Aug. 20, 1935.

Patented Aug. 20, 1935 APPARATUS FOR COATING PIPE ENDS John Soyland, Youngstown, Ohio Application December 27, 1932,,SerialNo. 648,857

. 3 Claims. (CI. 91-54) 'Ilii'sinvention relates to mechanism for coating the-ends -of"pip es",' tubes and other cylindrical articles witwa viscous fluid such as'lubricant, paint oi 'th'eiikefto' afford protectionthereto, and is particularly-usefuFfor lubricating or painting the tlneaded ends of galvanized pipes.

"jlfn the manufacture of threaded galvanized pipes-"and ot-her pipes provided with protective surface coatings or specially prepared outer sur- 1'0 faces, the threading of the ends subsequent to the application of the zinc orother coating material removes the latter and exposes themetal of the pipefitselffto rust or'other COIIOSiOllyWhiCh is parti'c'ularly undesirable when the pipe is to be I? stored or shipped; additionally, in some instances, Inbricant" is applied by the pipe manufacturer to the pipe threads whether the pipes be coated or not,, to facilitate the application of couplings or other fittings bythe ulti'mateuser. Both of these byhahd as far asI am aware, the threaded ends 9 01f; the pipe being'merelypainted-witha coating material orwith the lubricant by workmensupplied with brushesand stationed near the oppo- 25? site end s of the pipes as they are successively iii'oved; alonga. conveyor or other analogous apparatus" Thepresent'invention-is directed to the provision of a machinefor automatically performing alike operation.

30?: r A principal, object. of the invention, therefore,

istogiprovide means adapted'for operative associatlo with a pipe conveyor for coating the endsof pipes. or; the like as they are moved by the conveyoif'from one station to another.

automatic means of this character which are fully eife'ctiyefor the purpose aforesaid and which do notginterfere with or'in any way'delay-the ordinary manufacturing and/or finishing processes to at which; the-pipes "arez' normally' subjected.

hereft'o'jthe pipes. j I V Otliefobjects, purposes and" advantages of the inventionwill hereinafter more fully appear or begunderstood from the following descripo inwmeh reference will be had to; the". ac-

company-lug drawings. 1

operations have heretofore been performed solely j j ajrurther object'off the invention is to provide In the said drawings, Fig. 1 is a top plan view of mechanism embodying my invention in association with a pipe conveyor of a usual form, the latter being fragmentarily indicated 'in broken lines; Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof in which 15* certain parts are broken away into vertical: section, andFig. 3 is a transverse vertical section on the line 3--3 in Fig. 2 looking in the directionof the arrows. In the several figures, like characters are used to designate the same partsi 10 Pipes and tubes are generally threaded on bot ends, and under such circumstances the coating or lubricant is applied to both threaded extremities of each pipe. As previously stated, this operation has heretofore been customarily performed by operators stationed on each side of i a conveyoralong which the pipes are moved from one station to another with the ends of the pipes generally projecting far enough beyondthe sides of the convcyorto enable the coating or lubricant to be conveniently applied by means of a brush. Obviously, where but one end of a series of pipes is to be coated or lubricated, the operatives are stationed on but one side of the conveyor only and, in a similar way, the apparatus of the present in- 5. ventionmay be arranged on both sides or on only oneside of the conveyonalthough the former will normally be the case. Howevenfor present purposes, a description of the apparatus as applied at one side of the conveyor only will sufiice to enable those skilled in the art to readily comprehendthe invention since, obviously, similar apparatus may be installed on the'other side of the conveyor if both ends. of the pipes are to be treated.

"I'heconveyor itself, generally designated as C, of. which only a portion is indicated in dotted lines, maybe of anyv suitable form adapted to move the pipes consecutively in a substantially horizontal plane from one point to another. It 40' may thuscomprise a plurality of endlesschains a provided with spaced flights or dogs b respectively moving in parallel horizontally disposed channel skids 0 over suitably spaced sprockets d. driven'in any convenient way, the skids being supported on a suitable framework e. The pipes are successsively delivered to this conveyor in any suitable way or by any convenient means such, for example' as an elevating mechanism, generally designated as E, which may be arranged to receive the pipes consecutively from a threading machine and'deposit them on the conveyor for transportation to some other point for storage or shipment; during this transportation, the coating is applied to the ends of the pipes by the mechanism now'to be described which forms the subject of my invention. It will be understood, however, that the use, of this mechanism is in no way limited toa conveyor of the character indicated as it may be readily associated with other forms of conveyors or, in fact, with substantially any apparatus adap tedto consecutively move pipes or other cylindrical objects in a substantially horizontal 1 plane and in a direction substantially transverse of their axes.

MOre specifica Hy, the" eatin or invention comprises a housing 5 supported at one ing and having ,a driven, sprocket H secured theretoexternally of .thehousing'. Apair of somejr.

what similar bosses i2 areprovided adjacent the other end Ioithehousin'gv in horizontal alignment with the bosses 8; these bosses however, beingiproe vided vwith horizontally extending slots-1 l3 which receive a shaft' M supporting aniidler pulley llJ' within the housing, this'pulley being rotatable on the shaft II 4 and'substantially the same size. as the lessbelt i5 which may preferably'be madefrom a plurality of metal links and; thus be substantially ofthe character of a silent chain; "although leather; fabric or any'other suitable material -may' be employed if desired; whilethefshaft M' is pr'o vided 'at its opposite endswith collars :i 6 having "outwardly pr-ojecting threaded studs-l1 extending through 'lugs' i 8 "on th'e housing and carrying nuts l9 whereby'longitudinal"adjustment of the shaft with-respect to the housing may beeffecte'd'with corresponding adjustment or the tension onethe crummy; a rnetallic belt "of the character" mentioned will-be-found"preferable to a; fabric or} leatherbne since it is less susceptible to damage from thesharp edges ofthe' pipe'threadswith' corresponding increase in its life ;i additionally;

lessifreduent adjustment is usually required when a metal'belt is employed asthe'coating fluid often tends to" soften belts of other s rt andfthus increase's'their liability to stretch 1; Shaft 9 carr fl sl he Pul er 0 m d v thrqughthe sprocket H byachainlllextending over" a sprocket 2! mounted on theshatftZZ WhiCh c u d an orms an x e iqnvqiih main driving fshaft'fflof the conveyor or thefsprocket I may: b "m ed ony i i nd s larlr driven so as'to'constitu'te pulleylfi' the driving pu err t eip isq ha t nb errun 1 b' r-i ate under greaterltensionthan its lower; orany v table driving means forthe belt' may be employedii preferred,*the speed twhichrit is d'bei rai s dflwi h p t t th onv yor that the surrace ofthe'up-per run oi theibeltiis slightlyflel vatedjabdve jthef levelof the conveyor rails C'so s' the pipes are consecutively moved {along th conveyor; their M ends engage, and rest -,upo n the be t, ovrlappmg the, latter" the distance me sur d. WWW? h e en o each uppi v,

- ing plate .30,mounted on spacing 'sl sequent coating of the threaded desirably somewhat lessthanthatoi ,l {h convyorpchams i I horizontal surface o'rlr'un is'ofconsiderablygrea Ij er ens h tha t e c r u fe ence ofit ie' P besisc with the; b

A tank or reservoir 25, which may be formed of sheet metal, surrounds the lower portion of the housing 5 and is suitably supported therefrom preferably'by a plurality of hinged clips 26 which permit the tank to be readily removed from the housing for cleaning, a drain cook 21 at the bottom of the tank providing a convenient means for emptying it when attached to the housing. When I the machine is in operation, this tank is kept filled with the coatingfiuid, whiQhlmay be oil, thin grease, paint or the like, to alevel somewhat above that of 'the'lowefrun of mesons so that the latter in its travel over thepulleys HLiD moves thi ough thefluid and picks up aquantity thereof "'Lfor ls'ubsequent transference to the ends of the pipes, 4, a

For maintaining the pipes inproperrelation to, theicoating apparatus as they'move along the conveyor suitable means, preferably in the form of-a'guiderall 28, are provided, this rail being suppQ t ai'mm-ihe'mu in 5 b hmkets .2 1 s bstantialalignment withtheout edge-of ,thebelt 1 t e r ntend Qt the r il le -h meandnearest the point from h theflpipes are su p ieil e bl ivedjutwet r may from" the conveyor so thatas the pipe. ends en-J gage and traverse this curvedfportion', theyare m isds the b i w r r et i r t ihe m o por n; of the ai n an; ihel lt; prior to their meeting the latter Qbvi s s'lyiwhe two of the 'coating mechanisms. are;v sposedlon' opposite sidesflof the conveyor, these. guiderails by -cOqperation with one or the other ,endg'qf p pe will serve to bring it into proper relation with the'blts o-i both mechanisrnslbut when only one such mechanism is utilized care a should be takento feed the pipesfin such? ma ner: hat theends which are tobe'fcoated will-contact the curved-portion of the rail so each pipe will be e l ed t PI'Q q t e i-le thethrew of certain of the pipes mghtifietgbe ceases for their entire length. Moreover; to prevent "the n of) the belt from unduly sagg aback-'1 v a w a v v 'fiil r-- ried .by studs or bolts 32 extending t hrdt'igl'i"the.

side platesof the housing. 5 is ,preferably pro-f Vided; thus insuring Contact of. the run length.

,of the surface of'the' upper ,of the belt with the pipeen ds as they 'roll a'long e sides or the co v rse; I

Thus, in hestat e shaman sm which hasi beendescribedQlthepipes R. are rolled n g hspha s V skids c by thejilightsf'hofvthe n veyor chains with their, ends in contac with'flthe belt I 5, While the latter moved over its "pulleys IUQI H J 'andover the platefill, carrying .afquantity of hei t s material n' it ii p e fsu a er the material is thus, scraped from "'the' belt "and onto f-thepipefendsas airesultf o movement therebetw'en.,. .To' insure. contact of the entire peripherylof each pip lend and con area at all points,

't t irsupper the belt is desirablyar gee that each oifthe latter W lli b rotatedthrouehiat least one -complete revolu' o'n whilel in contact the housing 'and b ack d 1 15 3 3 hr a Iyiarranged use is horizontally above the path of the pipe ends adjacent the rear end of the housing and supported therefrom on a bracket 36, the tube which is closed at its front end having a plurality of downwardly directed perforations 31 in its wall. Through these perforations compressed air supplied to the rear end of the tube by a supply plpe38 may be blown over the ends of the pipes P as they are moved under the tube by the conveyor, thus carrying the excess coating material back into the tank and leaving but a relatively "thin film thereof on the surface of the pipe ends.

As heretofore mentioned, the apparatus of my invention is desirably driven from the main drive shaft of the conveyor since when so driven, its operation is entirely automatic except that it is of course necessary that the tank 25 be kept supplied with a sufiicient quantity of the coating material to constantly maintain it at a level to at least contact the surface of the lower run of ,thebelt l5. Moreover, the air wiper supplements the normal flow of the material to remove the excess coating material from the ends of the pipes and return it to the tank, and it is thus apparent that substantially none of the coating material is wasted, only that necessary to coat the pipe ends with a thin film thereof being actually removed from the apparatus, so that the supply in the tank may be kept at or above the lowest operative level merely by the addition from time p to time of the relatively small amounts necessary to compensate for that used up in forming the thin film coating on the ends of the pipes.

While I have herein described a preferred embodiment of my invention with considerable particularity, I wish it to be understood that I do not intend thereby to limit or confine myself thereto in any way since changes and modifications in the form and arrangement of the several parts and in other particulars will readily occur to those skilled in the art and may be made if desired without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

" Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States:

1. In combination with a conveyor for moving cylindrical articles, apparatus forcoating the ends of said articles as they are successively ,moved along the conveyor comprising an endless belt extending parallel to the path of movement of the articles adapted for engagement by their ends during said movement, means for driving the belt, means for supplying a coating fluid thereto, and means for removing excess coating fluid from said ends after they have traversed the belt, said means comprising a tube extending parallel to the belt and having downwardly opening perforations through its wall, and means for supplying compressed air to said tube.

2. In combination with a conveyor for moving threaded pipe, apparatus for painting the ends of said pipe as they are successively moved along the conveyor, comprising an endless belt extending parallel to the path of movement of the pipes adapted for engagement by their threaded ends during said movement, means for driving the belt,

means for supplying paint thereto, and means for to the roots thereof and for removing excess paint from said ends after their engagement with the belt, said means comprising a tube disposed above and parallel to the belt having downwardly opening perforations through its wall and means for supplying compressed air to said tube.

3. Apparatus for paintingthreaded pipe ends comprising a pair of spaced rotatable pulleys having parallel axes, means for driving one of the pulleys, a flexible belt carried by said pulleys and adapted to apply paint successively to the ends of the pipes, means for moving the pipes relatively to said belt while in engagement therewith along a horizontal path normal to the axes of said pulleys, a perforated tube extending above 

